Background Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the principal etiologic agent of human tuberculosis. It has no environmental reservoir and is believed to have co-evolved with its host over millennia. This is supported by skeletal evidence of the disease in early humans, and inferred from M. tuberculosis genomic analysis. Direct examination of ancient human remains for M. tuberculosis biomarkers should aid our understanding of the nature of prehistoric tuberculosis and the host/pathogen relationship.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe used conventional PCR to examine bone samples with typical tuberculosis lesions from a woman and infant, who were buried together in the now submerged site of Atlit-Yam in the Eastern Mediterranean, dating from 9250-8160 years ago. Rigorous precautions were taken to prevent contamination, and independent centers were used to confirm authenticity of findings. DNA from five M tuberculosis genetic loci was detected and had characteristics consistent with extant genetic lineages. High performance liquid chromatography was used as an independent method of verification and it directly detected mycolic acid lipid biomarkers, specific for the M. tuberculosis complex.Conclusions/SignificanceHuman tuberculosis was confirmed by morphological and molecular methods in a population living in one of the first villages with evidence of agriculture and animal domestication. The widespread use of animals was not a source of infection but may have supported a denser human population that facilitated transmission of the tubercle bacillus. The similarity of the M. tuberculosis genetic signature with those of today gives support to the theory of a long-term co-existence of host and pathogen.

This paper attempts to quantify the changes in activity patterns of early farming populations in the Levant through the musculoskeletal stress markers (MSM) of the upper limb as seen in skeletal remains. The transition to an agricultural way of life resulted in higher loads on the upper limb in Neolithic populations compared to the Natufian hunter-gatherer populations that preceded them. The MSM pattern for males and females indicates a gender-based division of labor both in the Natufian and the Neolithic. It may also suggest that people in the Neolithic period were engaged in different (new) activities and occupations compared to the Natufian.

This article reviews key data and debates focused on relative sea-level changes since the Last Interglacial\ud (approximately the last 132,000 years) in the Mediterranean Basin, and their implications for past human\ud populations. Geological and geomorphological landscape studies are critical to archaeology. Coastal regions\ud provide a wide range of resources to the populations that inhabit them. Coastal landscapes are\ud increasingly the focus of scholarly discussions from the earliest exploitation of littoral resources and early\ud hominin cognition, to the inundation of the earliest permanently settled fishing villages and eventually,\ud formative centres of urbanisation. In the Mediterranean, these would become hubs of maritime transportation\ud that gave rise to the roots of modern seaborne trade. As such, this article represents an original\ud review of both the geo-scientific and archaeological data that specifically relate to sea-level changes and\ud resulting impacts on both physical and cultural landscapes from the Palaeolithic until the emergence of\ud the Classical periods. Our review highlights that the interdisciplinary links between coastal archaeology,\ud geomorphology and sea-level changes are important to explain environmental impacts on coastal human\ud societies and human migration. We review geological indicators of sea level and outline how archaeological\ud features are commonly used as proxies for measuring past sea levels, both gradual changes and\ud catastrophic events. We argue that coastal archaeologists should, as a part of their analyses, incorporate\ud important sea-level concepts, such as indicative meaning. The interpretation of the indicative meaning of\ud Roman fishtanks, for example, plays a critical role in reconstructions of late Holocene Mediterranean sea\ud levels. We identify avenues for future work, which include the consideration of glacial isostatic adjustment\ud (GIA) in addition to coastal tectonics to explain vertical movements of coastlines, more research on\ud Palaeolithic island colonisation, broadening of Palaeolithic studies to include materials from the entire\ud coastal landscape and not just coastal resources, a focus on rescue of archaeological sites under threat by coastal change, and expansion of underwater archaeological explorations in combination with submarine\ud geomorphology. This article presents a collaborative synthesis of data, some of which have been\ud collected and analysed by the authors, as the MEDFLOOD (MEDiterranean sea-level change and projection\ud for future FLOODing) community, and highlights key sites, data, concepts and ongoing debates

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This paper follows the dramatic changes in scientific research during the last 20 years regarding the relationship between the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and its hosts - bovids and/or humans. Once the M. tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis genomes were sequenced, it became obvious that the old story of M. bovis evolving into the human pathogen should be reversed, as M. tuberculosis is more ancestral than M. bovis. Nevertheless, the timescale and geographical origin remained an enigma. In the current study human and cattle bone samples were examined for evidence of tuberculosis from the site of Atlit-Yam in the Eastern Mediterranean, dating from 9250 to 8160 (calibrated) years ago. Strict precautions were used to prevent contamination in the DNA analysis, and independent centers used to confirm authenticity of findings. DNA from five M. tuberculosis genetic loci was detected and had characteristics consistent with extant genetic lineages. High performance liquid chromatography was used as an independent method of verification and it directly detected mycolic acid lipid biomarkers, specific for the M. tuberculosis complex. These, together with pathological changes detected in some of the bones, confirm the presence of the disease in the Levantine populations during the Pre-pottery Neolithic C period, more than 8000 years ago.

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Des sites préhistoriques récents submergés ont été découverts récemment le long de la côte du Carmel. Leur paléoenvironnement a été reconstitué en grande partie grâce à la palynologie. Les processus géologiques liés à ces sites peuvent se résumer comme suit : 1 ) marais d'eau douce à saumâtre au début de l'Holocène; 2) régression marine suivie par l'assèchement des marais et l'occupation humaine au cours du Néolithique-Chalcolithique; 3) transgression marine, avant le 4e millénaire av. J.-C. et abandon des sites.